Iraq and the Pathologies of Primacy
Foreign AffairsMar 11, 2023
NY Officials Respond to ISIS-K Threat to T20 Cricket World Cup
Above: Pedestrians move past the construction site as work continues on the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium at Eisenhower Park on April 22, 2024 in East Meadow, New York. Image copyright: Bruce Bennett/Staff/Getty Images Sport via Getty Images
The Facts
Ahead of the Men’s T20 Cricket World Cup on Long Island, New York, security has been ramped up by law enforcement in light of threats made by the Islamic State group – Khorasan Province (ISIS-K), as the games begin this weekend.
Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick J. Ryder has said that they were made aware of a "global" ISIS-K-linked threat in April. A specific threat circulating online has called for a "lone wolf" attack during the India-Pakistan match on June 9.
The Spin
Pro-establishment narrative
While the Islamic State group has largely faded from the minds of Washington and the West, the threat they and other Islamist terrorist groups pose is still real and substantial. After the withdrawal of the US from Afghanistan, the Taliban has been unable to hold back the ISIS-K resurgence, as it plots to make international their terror mission in a way that hasn't been seen in years. The world must act now to contain the ISIS-K threat.
Establishment-critical narrative
The world that birthed the Islamic State group's reign of terror in the 2010s is not the world of 2024. Increased anti-terror cooperation, leadership struggles, and the weakening of their propaganda machine have made the group a much weaker threat than they once were. The recent attacks in Moscow were aberrations, and the group currently exists as a paper tiger. Let's not get too quickly wrapped up in terror hysteria once again.